Su Holmes and Celebrity

Su Holmes (2006) ‘Understanding Celebrity Culture’ in Framing Celebrity: New Directions in Celebrity Culture

‘I want to be a celebrity. I want to be loved. I want the glitz, the glamour, the sparkle and the essential glow. I want the red carpet treatment. I want VIP champagne parties. I want TV chat show hosts to fawn over me. I want to be harassed and harangued by the tabloid press. I want to be on the cover of Hello magazine. I want fame. I want celebrification.’

This is how Holme’s co-editor introduces the concept of fame. It’s the thing that most people desire for but only a few have. If you’re not one of the few famous people, you’re part of the legions of fans that celebrate the famous.

Stars and celebrities can be seen as filling in for real friends, as the obsession grows, bordering on the brink on Fandom. Fans feel they are getting unrestricted access when they see their favourite star in ‘normal’ clothes or without make-up. It proves to them their idol is real.

Reality TV has heralded the new type of celebrity; ‘the epitome of the fabricated celebrity’ or the bottom level ‘regularly replenished’ celebrity. They appear in the press regularly, but due to the fickle nature of fame, are easy to forget. It can be said that success depends upon national and international appeal; ‘cultish’ capital and the market value of said person’s fame. Economic ‘worth’ is of the highest value for potential visibility.

Dyer (1986) believes stars, ‘articulate what it means to ‘be human’ in capitalist society, dramatizing ‘ideas of personhood, in large measure shoring up the notion of the individual but also at time registering the doubts and anxieties attendant on it’. In other words, stars can be said to help answer life’s questions.

The problem with today’s celebrity is that as notoriety because more and more associated with celebrity, the currency of celebrity is devalued in the public discourse. Whilst many still adore celebrities, others see it as a phase.

Celebrities can be described as, ‘overtly public individuals’ who are permitted to ‘move on the stage while the rest of us watch’ (Marshall 1997), but it is still a very ambiguous term, as when our views on celebrities change, so do the definitions.

It’s far to say that the idea of celebrity is a complex one, with all forms of media claiming they created celebrities and turn people into celebrities. All that is for sure is that the idea of celebrity will never disappear and with the increase in user generated content, personally I don’t think it will be long before we’re all celebrities of some description.